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Irish Independent
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘Have I Got News for You' star visits Skellig Michael on Kerry holiday
Best known for his regular appearances on 'Have I Got News for You', Andy Hamilton, is currently visiting The Kingdom and was in Portmagee at the weekend before taking a trip to Skellig Michael – the world famous UNESCO site. The British comedian is a regular contributor to a host range of comedy programmes, and co-created The Kit Curran Radio Show, Drop the Dead Donkey, and Outnumbered. He is also renowned for his role in children's programmes, including as the voice of Dr Elephant, the dentist in the animation series Peppa Pig and he is the voice of Captain Squid, the pirate in the children's show Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom. He is a regular contributor to BBC radio on a number of shows. Andy Hamilton is married to Libby Asher and they have three children. He was in Kerry with Libby and was spotted by Kerry photographer Stephen Power who said he spent a wonderful half an hour in their company in Portmagee.
Irish Independent
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
UK comedian and TV star pays visits to Skellig Michael on Kerry holiday
Best known for his regular appearances on 'Have I Got News for You', Andy Hamilton, is currently visiting The Kingdom and was in Portmagee at the weekend before taking a trip to Skellig Michael – the world famous UNESCO site. The British comedian is a regular contributor to a host range of comedy programmes, and co-created The Kit Curran Radio Show, Drop the Dead Donkey, and Outnumbered. He is also renowned for his role in children's programmes, including as the voice of Dr Elephant, the dentist in the animation series Peppa Pig and he is the voice of Captain Squid, the pirate in the children's show Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom. He is a regular contributor to BBC radio on a number of shows. Andy Hamilton is married to Libby Asher and they have three children. He was in Kerry with Libby and was spotted by Kerry photographer Stephen Power who said he spent a wonderful half an hour in their company in Portmagee.
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Irvine Welsh takes aim at 'brain atrophying' tech ahead of new 'Trainspotting' sequel
By Helen ROWE Scottish author Irvine Welsh on Friday described the new sequel to his cult novel "Trainspotting" as an antidote to a world full of "hate and poison", as he took aim at social media, the internet and AI. "Men in Love", the latest in a series of sequels, follows the same characters -- Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie -- as they experience the heyday of rave culture in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Welsh's novel was turned into the wildly successful 1996 hit film of the same name directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor. The black comedy drama featured a group of heroin addicts living in an economically-depressed part of Edinburgh. "We're living in a world that seems to be so full of hate and poison. Now it's time I kind of focus more on love as a kind of antidote to all that," Welsh said. Although his novel was published over 30 years ago, there were many parallels with the world today, he added. The 1980s demise of much heavy industry such as shipbuilding in the Leith area of Edinburgh heralded a new world for some "without paid work". "Now we're all in that position. We don't know how long we'll have paid work, if we do have it, because our economy, our society, is in just a long form revolutionary transformation," he told BBC radio. "It's a big, contentious, messy revolution. There's lots to play for, but there's some very dystopian tendencies within it," he added. Despite the problems faced by earlier generations, Welsh said he detected less optimism now. "I think we're just a bit more scared... I think we've got this existential threat on the horizon, basically, of species extinction... through kind of wars and diseases and famines and climate change and no economic means for younger people to make their way in the world as we had," he said. Welsh also took aim at artificial intelligence (AI), an internet appropriated by big corporations and a social media culture marred by "vitriolic pile-ons". He said the internet had stopped people from thinking and had created a "controlling environment" in which "we just take instruction". "We've got artificial intelligence on one side, and we've got a kind of natural stupidity on another side. We just become these dumbed down machines that are taking instruction. And when you get machines thinking for you, your brain just atrophies." He said he hoped that people's current addiction to mobile phones would be a phase that runs its course. "You look down the street and you see people with a phone stuck to their face. Hopefully, if we survive the next 50 years, that's going to look as strange on film as... people chain smoking cigarettes did back in the 80s," he added. "Men in Love" is due to be published by Penguin on July 24. © 2025 AFP
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Trainspotting' author scorns AI ahead of sequel
Scottish author Irvine Welsh on Friday described the new sequel to his cult novel Trainspotting as an antidote to a world full of "hate and poison", as he took aim at social media, the internet and AI, reported AFP. Men in Love, the latest in a series of sequels, follows the same characters — Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie — as they experience the heyday of rave culture in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Welsh's novel was turned into the wildly successful 1996 hit film of the same name directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor. The black comedy drama featured a group of heroin addicts living in an economically-depressed part of Edinburgh. "We're living in a world that seems to be so full of hate and poison. Now it's time I kind of focus more on love as a kind of antidote to all that," Welsh said. Although his novel was published over 30 years ago, there were many parallels with the world today, he added. The 1980s demise of much heavy industry such as shipbuilding in the Leith area of Edinburgh heralded a new world for some "without paid work". "Now we're all in that position. We don't know how long we'll have paid work, if we do have it, because our economy, our society, is in just a long form revolutionary transformation," he told BBC radio. "It's a big, contentious, messy revolution. There's lots to play for, but there's some very dystopian tendencies within it." Despite the problems faced by earlier generations, Welsh said he detected less optimism now. "I think we're just a bit more scared... I think we've got this existential threat on the horizon, basically, of species extinction... through kind of wars and diseases and famines and climate change and no economic means for younger people to make their way in the world as we had," he said. Welsh also took aim at artificial intelligence (AI), an internet appropriated by big corporations and a social media culture marred by "vitriolic pile-ons". He said the internet had stopped people from thinking and had created a "controlling environment" in which "we just take instruction". "We've got artificial intelligence on one side, and we've got a kind of natural stupidity on another side. We just become these dumbed down machines that are taking instruction. And when you get machines thinking for you, your brain just atrophies." Men in Love is due to be published by Penguin on July 24.
Straits Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Victims of London 7/7 attacks remembered as king hails 'spirit of unity'
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Tributes left at the 7/7 Memorial at Hyde Park in London on July 7. LONDON - Fifty-two thousand petals fell in St Paul's Cathedral on July 7 to mark the 52 victims of London's July 7 bombings, as King Charles III paid tribute to the spirit of unity shown after the atrocity. To mark the moment the first bomb went off 20 years ago, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan laid wreaths at the July 7 memorial in the capital's Hyde Park at 8:50 am local time (3.50pm Singapore time). On July 7, 2005, four homegrown Islamist extremists detonated suicide bombs on three underground trains and a bus across central London, killing dozens and injuring hundreds more. The king's brother Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, and his wife Sophie attended a national service of commemoration at St Paul's, along with Starmer and the mayor. They were joined by survivors, bereaved relatives and emergency services personnel on duty at the time of the attacks. In a statement to mark the anniversary, the king urged people to draw on the 'extraordinary courage and compassion' shown following the attack. 'We remember with profound sadness the 52 innocent people who were killed in senseless acts of evil – and the enduring grief of their loved ones,' he said in the statement published by the domestic Press Association news agency. 'In doing so, we should also remember the countless stories of extraordinary courage and compassion that emerged from the darkness of that day,' he said. 'The selfless bravery of our emergency services, transport workers and fellow citizens who rushed towards danger to help strangers reminds us of the very best of humanity in the face of the very worst,' he added. Mr Daniel Biddle, who was 26 when he lost both legs and his left eye, recalled the moment he saw one of the bombers prepare to detonate his explosive just after their train pulled out of Edgware Road station. 'I saw the guy lean forward and look along the carriage,' he told BBC radio. 'I was just about to ask him what he was staring at, what his problem was, then he reached for his bag and there was a brilliant white light. That's a face seared into my mind,' he said. Mr Biddle said the 20th anniversary would be 'one of those days where you're thankful you've survived it'. But he said he still felt 'immense sadness and grief' at the suffering the four suicide bombers had inflicted. 'I feel like I'm living the life sentence of the men that should be serving,' he said. Other bombs went off on London's underground train network near Aldgate station and King's Cross station. An hour after the first explosion, a fourth bomb exploded on the top deck of a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. Mr Starmer said the bombers had tried to divide the nation but failed. 'We stood together then and we stand together now – against hate and for the values that define us of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.' King Charles added that 'while the horrors will never be forgotten', the country 'may take comfort from the way such events rally communities together'. 'It is this spirit of unity that has helped London, and our nation, to heal,' he said. Mr Tony Blair, who was prime minister during the 7/7 bombings, said the UK was safer in the years since the attacks. 'We're a lot safer from terrorism because the security services have a very good system in place,' he said. 'But there will be a problem as long as the ideology exists.' Speaking ahead of the anniversary, interior minister Yvette Cooper also warned that Islamist and right-wing extremism remained the country's most significant threats. AFP
